A Light within the Shadows
by thelightandthedarkness
Summary: Based on TDKR movie. Bane/Talia Romance-centric. Bane is a prisoner of the Pit in his twenties when he rescues Talia al Ghul, a young twenty year-old woman after she has been banished from the League of Shadows and her father's protection. They learn to t


Talia was being lowered down with two other girls who were tied at their waists together into the hellish underbelly of the desert prison. It was her father's doing the great and merciless Ra's al Ghul the leader of the League of Shadows. She didn't know the other two young women who were with her; they were just as unfortunate as herself to be lowered down into the Pit for some possible insignificant crimes of their own.

The young women could already hear the loud and vile voices and catcalls from the male prisoners who were waiting for them to be lowered down enough for their vile hands to probably rip them apart, taking in their bloodlust and need for a girl. Talia bravely looked into one of the girls' eyes as they were being lowered by the thick rope from the guards from above. "Whatever happens" she stated to them both, "you need to fight them off. Don't let them take you. Use your nails to claw at their faces, bite them if they try to rip your clothing…at least then, even if they kill you, you will know in the end that you fought them to the death,".

The other two women just looked at her steely blue eyes as she spoke to them, encouraging them to fight for themselves. "Yes, that would be a good way of them hurting us more, you know that we won't survive," said the one with a mousy voice. "My grandfather was a guard here in this vile prison, he stated to me once that the guards would send down women like us for 'the prisoner's plesure'. She looked at Talia and shook her head. "There will be no one to rescue us…there are no good men down here,".

Talia nodded to her, and the other two girls saw her gulp. "It doesn't matter. We need to depend on each other," she stated, once again gaining the courage to fight. "I was trained to fight; we stay together, don't let the others grab you and take you away from us,".

Bane was washing his old wooden bowls with the clean rainwater he used in his cell. He was probably only twenty-three years old, if he guessed right. His ears caught the vile and insatiable yells from the prisoners who gathered in the common area to possibly await the arrival of the poor soul who was sadly chosen to become the newest prey of the Pit. He had no interest in joining the other men who wanted to hurt a weak prisoner.

"Bane…Bane" he heard the loud voice of a young prisoner who was an aquainance of his due to him bringing Bane some old stale liquor that a guard would give to him and for him to share it with.

"What is it Quorin?" the young brute stated with a slight irritation to his deep husky voice.

"Bane, you need to be down in the Common Area, the guards are lowering three pretty young girls for us. And you being one of the stronger prisoners, can get to them first!" he stated with anticipation in his brown eyes.

"Always thinking with your dick, I see," Bane stated, shaking his head. "Why would I get myself into a useless brawl with these idiots? You should know by now that I only fight if I need more rations, or to get you out of being killed".

"But Bane, you can have any one of those girls for yourself, easily. You're the least ugliest of us all!" Quorin tried to coax him. It was true. Bane was quite handsome and youthful in his features. His cheekbones, his hazel green eyes, as well as his full lips were a tribute from his mother, who had died when he was just a small child. And not to mention his muscular frame with broad shoulders, with a touch of olive to his skin. Out of all of the other prisoners, he had fared well with keeping his body in peak performance, due to him doing sit-ups and push-ups within his cell in order to be one of the few prisoners to be reckoned with.

Quorin decided to use a little psychology to coax Bane to help him. "Besides, your mother will look well upon you from heaven, knowing that you could come to the rescue of those poor girls," 

Bane stopped cleaning the bowl in his hands, finally looking Quorin in the eyes, who stood outside his cell. Quorin smiled to himself, proud of finding a way to coerce his friend into his bidding by using the memory of his dead mother.

"Fine, but we need Gregor's brute strength as well. If you want me to do this, we need to hurry fast and get those girls into an abandoned cell before we get killed,". Bane covered himself in his veil and headed towards the common area.

Gregor was a tall German with broad shoulders and a physique of a brawler, like Bane's frame. He helped Bane learn how to fight and care for himself when he was in his youth.

As the three young women were within the prisoners' reach, they felt hands beginning to tear at their robes. Once the ropes were loosened, Talia's fighting instincts took hold of her. She began scratching and clawing at the oncoming men, only to find that she could only be able to take out a couple of the weaker ones. One large man grabbed her and hit her in the chin, knocking her out. The other girls were luckily picked up by Quorin and Gregor, who carried them to an abandoned cell nearby.

Bane noticed one of the young prisoners was in harms way; he knew that if he let the brute that carried the helpless woman to his cell and lock himself away, that it would mean torture and death to the new prisoner. He immediately ran behind the large prisoner and began pummeling him in the ribs. The prisoner carrying Talia stopped, throwing her to the ground, as he began wrestling Bane. Bane knew that if he didn't take the advantage of killing his opponent, his own life would be at stake.

Once Bane finished the larger opponent off with a finishing blow to his face, cracking his cheekbones, he immediately picked up the unconscious woman up from the sandy floor. He carried her over his shoulders, giving the other weaker prisoners a glaring warning to not stand in his way. The prisoners knew that Bane was not to be reckoned with, and backed away.

Bane noticed that he was closer to his own cell on the highest wall of the prison and he took the chance to carry the woman to his own cell, knowing that the other two were safe, thanks to Quorin and Gregor. He grunted in dismay to himself, not really wanting to share his cell with another prisoner; it had been his place of solitude for so long. But he had no choice.

Once he carried the somewhat lifeless body of the woman up the steppes to his cell, he opened the cell door and locked it behind him. He carried her light body to his cot and layed her down. Bane inspected the condition she was in.

Her robes were tattered, and Bane saw deep scratches upon her exposed breasts from where a few of the prisoners tore at her robes. He saw that she had also been bleeding from her lips; the other prisoner who tried to claim her for himself had must of hit her hard with his fist. Bane decided to care for her wounds himself, instead of allowing the old prison doctor to care for her; the old man was of little use right now, due to being under the haze of his constant addiction to morphine.

Bane got a bowl of clean rainwater and a dry rag that he didn't use much to help with cleaning her deep wounds. But when he walked upon the woman on the cot, he was hesitant. She was murmuring to herself, but was still not awaken. His eyes averted to her breasts, heaving up and down, her breaths coming in very shallow.

Bane decided to begin cleaning her up before she was fully conscious. She would probably fight him off of her if she awoken to him unclothing her from her already torn robes. It wouldn't be much of a fight but the young brawler wasn't willing to hurt her to put her in her place.

Talia was awakening slowly to someone's hands touching her brusied and battered body. She turned her head from side to side, thinking that she was back at the League, being cared for by a servant after she got hurt from a recent practice fight. But instead of feeling the familiar feminine and delicate hands of the league's healer, she felt strong and calloused hands instead. She slowly opened her eyes to see a male face, who's head was covered by his robes, but his veil was pulled down, exposing full lips. His eyes were hardened hazel ones, his brow furrowed, as he inspected her cut mouth. She immediately came to and sat up abruptly upon his cot, as her foot spilled the bowl of water that was on the floor by the cot.

"Fuck, you spilled the water!" the young man's voice came through with a distant accent that Talia could only guess be mixed with a type of Carribean and European accent. "Lay back down, I'm not going to hurt you," the voice instructed with a serious and stern tone.

"No, don't touch me, you piece of filth!" Talia yelled in hitched breaths between her words. All of a sudden, she felt his large hands push her down upon the cot by her slim shoulders. She saw sinewy muscles move under his skin; Talia knew that she should heed his instructions, knowing internally that she was too weak to fight him off. She layed back down upon the uncomfortable cot, trying to focus upon the stranger's intentions by studying his face.

Bane noticed she was silently watching him cleaning her wounds. He could tell by looking at her how well-kept she was, despite the recent scourage she found herself in. She had pale skin, with a slight olive undertone, with brilliant blue eyes and thick dark hair. Whoever she was, it was obvious that she had some sort of training to defend herself. He saw that she was watching him silently; at least she paid heed to his instructions.

As he ran soothing circles around her wounds with the cool rag, the young woman whimpered softly. "Please, I'm cold," she stated.

"Once I get you cleaned up, I'll begin fire for you to warm up to," Bane stated to her, looking into her eyes. He saw a slight pleading from her brilliant eyes, as though she was afraid of what he might do to her. "It's alright, you're safe as long as you stay here. The other two girls are safe as well," he stated with a soft comforting tone to his accent.

"Are you sure…who has them?" she asked, as Bane finished cleaning the last few wounds upon her.

"Trusted allies of mine, they won't take advantage of women," Bane stated. "Only if they permit them to," he stated, a slight grin to his lips. Seeing the discomfort of his last words in her face, Bane asked her another question. "How did you get here, and what is your name?".

"Talia…my name's Talia," she stated. "I displeased my father and he sent me here as punishment," she said as she shook her head slowly upon the pillow, remembering how she angered Ra's a few days before, shaming him in front of his men. She tried to forget the horrible fight between her father and her, as she asked the stranger, "What is your name?".

"I go by Bane down here in the prison. It was given to me since I killed a few prisoners who tried to kill me a few years ago, but now they are dead,". Bane placed the rag into the bowl, as he went to a corner of his cell, retrieving a similar robe to his own.

Once his back was to her, Talia asked a brave question. "And are you like your two allies…you wouldn't take advantage of a woman?".

Bane's thoughts suddenly ran to images of him laying on top of her, kissing her, touching her in her secret place, with her writhing beneath his strong body in the middle of the night. He shook his head in dismay to the images; he couldn't help it, it was so long since he took in the pleasures of a woman, with her consent. Once he turned around to face her, he finally answered her question. "Yes, I know how to control myself…unlike the others around this hellhole,".

He saw that Talia had covered herself with a blanket that was on his cot. He walked slowly to her, to not further alarm her, giving her the common robes that all prisoners wore in the Pit. "Here, these haven't been worn before…the old doctor of the prison gave them to me a few months ago. I'll let you dress in privacy….I'll check on the other two that came with you," he stated looking her over absentmindedly before he turned towards the cell door.


End file.
